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7y

!rant

I need to pick a new development laptop. Can't make up my mind about either which laptop I want or even which OS I should use.

I'm comfortable with both Windows and Linux, and I can't think of any software I currently use that's not available in Linux off the top of my head. I use bash religiously, so I'm more comfortable with a Linux terminal so I'm leaning towards Linux, but whenever I've used Linux as a desktop operating system in the past, the GUI drove me insane. I don't want to deal with GUI issues or drivers etc.

As for which laptop to buy, it's been so long since I've had bought one and a good experience, so I really got nothing to go on. At the same time, I'm planning to make the switch from 1080p to 4k monitors, so there's that.

Any and all advice welcome. Except a Mac. I don't think I can go there.

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  • 0
    7y
    I am thoroughly biased. I say go for the surface line.

    You can easily do most bash stuff with the ubuntu sub system embedded in Windows 10.

    I'm not so sure how well the Surface Pro can drive 4k monitors. You'd need to do some digging.

    I just got the full Surface Bluetooth keyboard. Its pretty damn sweet.

    I've been pleasantly surprised by some new ways to be productive:

    1. The pen for mocking up the placement of elements for fiddly UIs. And just scribbling on screenshots before emailing.

    2. There is an onscreen mousepad. For those of us with sausages for fingers.
  • 0
    7y
    I had a Surface once. Incredible machine. I absolutely love it. It's out of my price range though. For some reason it's extremely expensive in Israel, at roughly double the price of other devices that cost similarly in the US.
  • 0
    7y
    @Artemix I had never heard of LDLC. Is that a store or a manufacturer?
  • 1
    7y
    I personally use a Chromebook with Crouton to get VS Code up for dev work. Very useful for comfortable on-the-go work
  • 0
    7y
    If you don't like the gui, then you should try mint cinnamon with plank, numix round icons or mac icons or something like that, then put on the default dark grey theme, mint-y-dark theme, albert launcher, osx arc darker theme for the closing/minimizing icons, then the gui will look amazing!
  • 0
    7y
    @artemix Oh okay
  • 1
    7y
    I have a System76 Gazelle that I'm really enjoying. Comes with Ubuntu but will run anything, 1080p monitor. If you're in the UK a KDE Slimbook might work for you.

    I know there are some other manufacturers, but those are the two off the top of my head...

    As far as the more popular Windows PCs, I recommend either Lenovo, Toshiba, or Asus; those three brands tend to be higher quality than the others.
  • 0
    7y
    @Artemix is right. Last time I used Linux, which granted was a while back, I had not only issues with drivers, but with windows misbehaving, e.g. clicks going to a window that wasn't on top etc.
  • 0
    7y
    Go travel somewhere the surface is cheaper?
  • 0
    7y
    @dezzymei traveling costs more than a laptop...
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